a rabbit thing

i tought i could ask you for a little help here....
well, i have a mini rabbit mr. Heather (i tought he was a girl and named him Heather, but then the vet sad he was a boy so he became mr. Heather), who once lived inside in the cage, but when i once let him out in the garden, he felt depressed (he was just liying and didnt move a lot) when he came back in the cage.
so, now for 2 months he lives outside in the garden among chickens, ducks and two goats. he looks really happy little bunny and he is not shy and afraid anymore as he was in times when he lived inside.
i was wondering what do you all think.... could he live outside during the winter too? he has well isolated shelter and i would put a lot of hay inside his housie. the thing is, that temperature can fall down to -20 in the night in winter. i dont want him to be cold neither i want to come one day and find a frozen bunny :smt090
thank you all

If Mr Heather has access to a warm sheltered shed or hutch where he can burrow into hay or straw, then I see no reason why not........you will probably have to supplement his food with mollasses and make sure his shelter is cleaned and topped up with hay/straw several times a day.

What happens to the ducks, geese and goats in the winter? Can you put Mr Heathers hutch/shelter in the corner of their shed? He would gain additional warmth from their bodies

they have houses to go into and goats are in the stable during the winter. thanks for the idea

Hi JP Can you as Iwalass says put the hutch inside say in the stable If not cover the outside of the hutch with insulation of some kind and polythene sheeting, remember to leave some ventilation. Also make sure it is dry inside by cleaning and changing the bedding frequently...if animals are dry they keep warm better.

I used to have a French Lop rabbit that was full grown when we bought him. We named him Hercules because he went mad when he was put in a cage and started to panic so I bought him a plastic dog kennel from pets at home and sawdust and lots of hay in it. Well Hercules had a wonderful life for two years and loved hopping round his pen (which was a fenced off part of the garden) One lovely sunny morning in April my neighbour phoned me and asked if he was okay because he was lay down and had been in the same position for ages. I was getting the kids ready for school but I popped out in the garden expecting to find him sunbathing. What I saw was horrific, poor Hercules had been ripped apart by a fox. It was truly a horrible sight and I cried all the way down to my childrens school and back. He was a lovely rabbit and I was really angry for myself for not caging him at night even though this would have made him unhappy. I never even thought that a fox would come in a garden because we live near loads of fields and I thought they just stayed in the fields.

Be very careful if you leave your rabbit outside all night because a fox won't think twice if it sees a little rabbit hopping round happily

in ordinary circumstances I would say its no problem in leaving a rabbit outside (in the UK) as long as it has a very warm and secure (away form foxes) place to sleep but as you say it gets to -20, that is very very cold.

Aww Foxy I totally understand where you are..I had 2 Huge French lops call Flossy and Bwyan who lived outside. One morning I came out with their breakfast and they weren't in their pen. I thought the little beggers had escaped and spent ages looking for them. I eventually found them deep in the hedge, a fox had had them. I was devastated and I won't get another now because of that. It upsets me every time I think about it and it was a year ago now
By all means let Mr Heather (awww) live outside, just ,make sure he's fox proofed.

-20 is too cold for a Rabbit outside...he should be inside in a warm hutch of newspaper and hay (not straw) and let out during the day (if it's warmer) for exercise, a which point he can mix with the other animals - during the winter though, he should always have access to somewhere warm and cosy even during the day. I've bread Dwarf Rabbits when a child and they can get sick extremely quickly and can die in a very short space of time.
You could always house train him and bring him in doors for company. All of our rabbits have been house trained and spent alot of time indoors, (to stop the foxes geting them) they used to live indoors at night and go out during the day. My last rabbit Larry loved being indoors with the family - loved the attention. They are very easy to house train and should be ok with any other animals if they are used to one another. We've had both dogs an Rabbits loose in the house - can be a bit hectic, but results in a happy bunny!

Having never had a rabbit I'm no expert, but I'd have thought that temperature was too extreme to be outside. Why not consult your vet & ask them for advice?

I'd have said, in a heated shed/stable in his hutch it should be ok but then, I'm in the UK and 20 degrees is very cold! I wouldn't like to be outside!

I'd take Ninja's advice as she obviously has experience.

Our rabbits lived outside and were fine. They had their run and a small door open during the day to go in, then during the night they were shut in to their hutch.

However, Floppy, my first rabbit was attacked by a fox IN HIS HUTCH!
We heard him thumping, went out, he was fine, fed him, went in, heard him, went out, he was fine, gave him more hay for more warmth, went in, heard him, then he stopped so we ignored it.
Went out in the morning and some bloody fox had ripped his hutch apart and half buried him in the garden